Sephora's Freaking Out

Time for my favorite part of the week, ICYMI!!!

ICYMI 🐰🥚🎀

Hi from LA, HSR!

Happy Easter & Happy Passover if either (or both) apply!

I can’t tell you how happy I am to be home!! Today’s edition is short and sweet up top because this week’s deep-dive case study on K-Beauty is where the good stuff lives.

I wish I could’ve spent the whole weekend in bed… but it’s Easter. If you caught last week’s vlog podcast, you know I was feeling a little disconnected from friends, family, work, and life back in LA toward the end of our trip. So I’ve been in full busy-body mode all weekend—catching up with loved ones and powering through work.

One major trip highlight in case you missed this past week’s vlog or IG stories: I had the chance to meet with the executive team behind Olive Young US. I’m helping them compile a list of emerging U.S. brands to prioritize for their U.S. and global (online) features so more on that in the case study below

Current Favorites/Things Occupying My Brain:

♡ I finished The Tell by Amy Griffin in 3 days and it altered my brain chemistry about being a woman. I highly recommend for your summer reading list.

♡ Ransom Canyon. I’m a sucker for a romcom country storyline and 2 episodes in, both Lucky #3 and I are hooked.

♡ My friend, founder of Brightland Olive Oil, Aishwarya S Iyer, saw my plea for help with our new garden and sent over this angel of a human who helps you build, grow, and nourish mini home gardens and I’m so excited to start growing some fruits and vegetables in our backyard sanctuary.

♡ Interior Styling: We bought our house furnished (a blessing) but now I’m digging into how to style the house to turn it into Lucky #3 and my forever home. To help me do that, I’m currently searching for Olive Atelier style home decorators to get some inspo for my mood boards. Please DM me if you think of anyone I can follow or be inspired by!

♡ We were gifted this Flamingo Estate Roma Heirloom Tomato Candle as a housewarming present. It's such a unique fragrance – garden-fresh tomato vines with hints of basil and earth and I can’t recommend it more if you want to transport yourself to Tuscany, Italy while you answer emails.

♡ I was a plus 1 to a very curated birthday dinner on Saturday night and sat next to Tania Sarin. She’s so chic online but she’s even better in person. Definitely worth a follow.

♡ This Week’s Mood Board ♡

♡ Looking for a Binge? ♡

Whether you’re building a brand, rethinking your money mindset, or just want the real story behind what it takes to grow something iconic—these are the most-loved episodes of the Hot Smart Rich podcast.

From surviving near-bankruptcy to stepping down as CEO and challenging how women are taught to build wealth, these convos go beyond the highlight reel and into the honest, bold truths behind success.

To enter this week’s giveaway, let me know which one is your favorite!

♡ Consumer Trends I Talked ♡
About Most This Week

♡ Who Will Win in China vs. the Luxury Houses? Every single TikTok live I’ve been feed on my FYP this week are Chinese factories selling unbranded Hermès, LV, and Chanel bags. That plus the fact that DHGate (the Chinese fast luxury e-commerce site) is now #2 in the Apple App store, is signalling that American consumers are fed up. Personally, you won’t find me on DHGate, there are too many incredible bag companies that have popped up over the past few years at a reasonable price with unique shapes, structures and leathers including Polène, Songmont, Freja New York, and DeMellier to name a few.

♡ Sephora vs. Olive Young: It’s not new news that Sephora Korea closed all business operations at the end of 2024 with the stiff competition from local hit retailers like CJ Olive Young which is set to open in the States late this year with their first Los Angeles store. All the reasons I think Sephora might be freaking out are in this week’s paid section.

♡ Sephora’s “pet project” of a brand “owned by a group of gay investors” fails with consumers amidst a rebrand.

♡ ISO of someone who can connect me to Olamide Olowe at Topicals for the podcast because this founder and brand KNOWS how to bring the heat to London with its one-night-only Faded Fortune gaming experience—featuring cash prizes, luxury goods, product drops, and a coveted brand trip – from Instagram.

♡ Revolve’s 50 Million Dollar Lawsuit: Fresh off Coachella, Revolve and three influencers are facing a $50M lawsuit filed by Ligia Negreanu. She claims she was misled into paying 10% to 40% more for items that were available for less at other retailers. Questionable? Definitely. But after Starbucks was just found guilty of negligence over a $50M coffee burn incident involving a delivery driver, this case could set an interesting legal precedent in the world of influencer marketing and retail pricing.

♡ It’s not just me that’s obsessed with K-Beauty; this is the full list of everything I bought at Olive Young in Korea.

Consumer News

♡ the brands, people, places, things that have captured my attention ♡

♡ Women’s Health & Beauty ♡

• Ali Kriegsman makes the case for why founder-led beauty brands are the future – from Beauty Independent

• Chillhouse launches Forever Wear, a gel-like polish system that prioritizes both performance and nail health – from Instagram

• Glossier introduces Barista-in-Chief @QuenBlackwell in its new campaign launching April 22 – from Instagram

• Bestie Defense debuts a 3-in-1 personal safety device designed specifically with women in mind – from Forbes

• Chanel celebrates its first fragrance launch in 8 years with a striking new pop-up experience – from TheIndustry.Beauty

• Kate Foster Lengyel, co-founder and CEO of The Outset (with Scarlett Johansson), exits the brand after leading its growth in the clean skincare space – from WWD

• Boy Smells' rebrand faces backlash from loyal fans and social media critics, raising questions about brand identity and authenticity – from Beauty Independent

♡ Media, Entertainment & Creator ♡

• Create & Cultivate Festival taps Doechii as headliner and Ciara as keynote speaker, crafting a festival experience tailored to women’s personal and professional growth – from Instagram

• Cactus Jack x Erewhon collab drops Coachella-themed juice shots under "The Village" activation – from Instagram

• SZA opens up about her beauty philosophy, routine, and product essentials – from Vogue

• Spritz Society announces nationwide retail availability, including Target, Gopuff, and more – from Instagram

• Mari Llewellyn launches Pursuit Network, a new platform for creators focused on purpose-driven storytelling and brand-building—featured by Forbes – from Instagram

• Topicals brought the heat to London with its one-night-only Faded Fortune gaming experience—featuring cash prizes, luxury goods, product drops, and a coveted brand trip – from Instagram

♡ E-Commerce, Retail & Social ♡

• Coach announces a multi-year partnership with the WNBA, bringing fashion into the courtside spotlight – from PR Newswire

• Saks outlines its new global strategy to redefine the future of luxury retail – from WWD

• Lyft expands in Europe with acquisition of mobility platform FreeNow – from Lyft

• Coachella attendees push back on high ticket prices and limited payment plans – from Billboard

• Chinese shopping app Taobao sees a 514% spike in U.S. downloads following viral TikTok videos explaining the behind-the-scenes reality of luxury production – from Instagram / TechCrunch

♡ Tech, Business & Investing ♡

• Canva, founded by Melanie Perkins, now serves 170M users globally and is valued at $26B—making it the highest-valued female-founded startup – from Instagram

• Cofertility, a fertility startup offering tech-enabled egg freezing and donor matching, raises $7.25M Series A – from Instagram

• OpenAI quietly explores launching a social media platform to rival X – from The Verge

• LVMH reports weaker sales as tariff concerns dampen luxury spending – from CNBC

• Meta releases its 2025 Gen Z report, Generation Zeitgeist, detailing how young consumers navigate social platforms – from Facebook Business

• U.S. consumers panic buy Korean beauty products as Trump’s tariff threats intensify – from CBS News

• Spotify confirms its servers are back online following widespread outages – from Forbes

• The Cut breaks down how rising living expenses and debt are reshaping discretionary spending, especially for young women navigating financial pressure in 2025 – from The Cut

• Investor Nandini Mullaji calls for more support for female founders and the emerging creator economy in a powerful LinkedIn post – from LinkedIn

• A stealth AI agent startup, backed by Yale alumni and tech veterans, secures significant early-stage funding to accelerate its mission of reshaping productivity through AI – from Business Insider

• 11 Tribes Ventures closes $46M for its second fund, focused on purpose-driven startups at the intersection of profit and values – from Yahoo Finance

When Sephora announced it was pulling out of Korea, the industry barely blinked. But it should have. Because while Western retailers have been trying to copy-paste their global playbooks into new markets, Olive Young has been quietly building the future of beauty retail—and now it’s heading to the U.S.

I just got back from Seoul, where a quick stop at Olive Young turned into an accidental three-hour pilgrimage. I also had an exclusive 1:1 meeting with the head of Olive Young's U.S. business—who is leading the charge on their U.S. expansion—and the global head of Olive Young's e-commerce platform, which is already generating billions in global sales. I also had the rare opportunity to sit down 1:1 with the Olive Young founding team and get a behind-the-scenes look at how they're planning to scale globally.

Here’s the thing: it wasn’t just a beauty store. It was a love letter to women. The Olive Young team shared their strategy to replicate this exact model in the U.S.—starting with three flagship locations in L.A.—anchored in a holistic approach to women's wellness, not just skincare.

Let me explain.

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